Passion for the job, passion for the product

As my final day at the radio station draws closer, I’m thinking more about the past three years I’ve spent there. What I liked…what I didn’t like…what I could have done and what I should have done. Then I realize there was one big card stacked against me no matter what I did - the product.

Do what you like

I’m a web guy. I design, I build, I study, I play, I test…all that and more is included in what I do, and I enjoy doing it. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do a job I like for most of my adult career, but I haven’t always been working in a place I like.

And I’m not talking about environmental working conditions - the people, the officespace, the pay - I’m talking about what it is your company does. For example, myself…I worked for a sports talk radio station. I’m not a big sports guy. I’m a casual sports fan at best, and that’s only if you count pro wrestling as a sport (which I don’t).

I enjoyed my role and my duties, but I don’t think I ever really “got into” the product the company was selling, that being sports. I don’t hate sports. I don’t hate sports radio…I’m pretty indifferent, really, but safe to say it’s not where my passion lies and I didn’t think much about that until the recent turn of events.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved what I was doing. I loved where I was. I had great co-workers. But I didn’t love what we were pushing…so how much of an impact can you deliver when you don’t really care much about the product? Passion for the product will always beget great results, regardless of quality.

There in body but not mind

I don’t think my lack of interest in sports resulted in lesser quality than if I was a sports fan. I strove for quality in everything I did, and while that lead to things that looked good and worked good on-line, I think it might have lacked one thing - soul. Not being a sports fan myself, I was never exactly sure what our audience was really after. I knew what would work on the web at large, but looking back I think there were many missed opportunities because I didn’t know what I was looking for. Of course, I didn’t know that I didn’t know.

I often thought about this type of situation when I worked for a pop music station. I always asked the DJs if they truly enjoyed the Top 40 crap the station played. Most of them said they didn’t. So here they were being a DJ (loving the grind), but they were playing music they really weren’t interested in. I’m sure that effected the results. Imagine if you were that DJ and actually spinning music you enjoyed…you’d probably do a better job and your audience would probably enjoy it more. Again, passion. Would you want Lemmy spinning Lady Gaga on your radio station? (Although that would be a sight.)

You gotta like what you do

I think the most important thing in a job is to like what you do on a daily basis. It’s the easiest challenge to overcome. If you don’t like the grind then you probably shouldn’t be doing the job. But we rarely get to pick exactly where we want to work, despite what people preach. There are just too many factors involved in chasing down your “dream job.” Some people get there, but most of us have to deal with what we’re given. (And lets face it, these days it seems any paying job is a good job, like it or not.)

But I will say one thing about some of the people I worked with at the radio station and that is that their passion could not be argued. They truly loved sports and they enjoyed their role within it. It was awesome collaborating with them…they gave me insight. And those of us not quite there in our job yet envy you.

So even though I’m not working for Mattel, George Lucas, or Nintendo, I think I’m moving closer to a product that I can take more interest in. If nothing else, I expect the nature of the projects to be varied, which is something I can really use right now.